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September 22, 2011

I'm happy to welcome Becky Taylor to the blog today, for a Psychtember guest post! Becky is both a school psychologist and a writer, and you can find her on her blog here.

There’s not a ton of people who know what a school
psychologist does. Usually when the question of my day job comes up, there is a
range of beliefs that start at medicating our kids into mindless oblivion and
end at the episode of The Simpsons where Bart’s being “evaluated” by the school
psych. The truth probably lies somewhere between these two—I work with kids who
are medicated (by their doctor, not me) and I do “evaluate” kids…but not in that
sterilized way you might be thinking.

If I had to pitch my job it would probably go something like
this, “School psychologist tries to help children struggling with behavioral,
emotional, cognitive and/or educational challenges access the curriculum provided
in the general education classroom.” What this looks like on a day-to-day basis
varies widely. WIDELY. But by far one of my favorite parts of the job is
connecting kids with books and trying to help foster a love of reading. I feel,
deeply, that helping kids develop strong foundational reading skills
underscores almost everything I do. Becoming a fluent reader is critical for a
kid’s future success, both in school and life.

Chances are if you’re a writer and/or an avid reader, you
probably haven’t given much thought lately to how you learned to read. The
event probably occurred somewhere between the age of four and six and the
myriad of skills and knowledge necessary to build you into a successful
“reader” slipped so effortlessly into your perfectly primed cognitive storage
bins, you might not even remember not being able to read.

Lucky you.

Working as a school psychologist in a public elementary
school, I hear quite a bit about which kids are “readers” which ones are
“reluctant-readers” and then, unfortunately, the “non-readers.” In a single
fifth grade class you may have a few kids that practically eat through anything
you plunk in front of them—the bigger the tome the better. But sitting right
next to this kid, there’s another eleven year old that can’t make it through a
single page of a Magic Tree House
book before giving up in despair.

The vast difference between these two students, and the
Grand Canyon between their individual educational needs, is a problem that
teachers all across America struggle with every single day. How do we
differentiate instruction enough to adequately challenge the high performing
student while also remediating the skill deficits of the non-reader?
Furthermore, why are these kids so different? The answers are as complex as the
individual students and their unique abilities, environments, and educational
experiences. In short…there no quick and dirty easy fix.

I oftentimes read articles (sometimes written by people who
don’t work in education—or even with kids) that decry the sad state of affairs
with today’s youth and their poor reading habits. Television, video games and
computers are all the usual suspects corrupting our children’s attention spans
and keeping them from being able to make it through Treasure Island. And I would say, that for your “readers” and
“reluctant readers” yes, there is significant competition for their attention.
And, quite frankly, books will frequently lose simply because the pay off for
them requires a bit more effort on their attention. But, in general, kids who
have parents who monitor and/or restrict the usual suspects; set the
expectation that their child read everyday; AND model the behavior themselves
BY BEING ADULT READERS (ahem)—these children usually gain enough experience
with early level text to gain the reading fluency necessary to truly enjoy
reading.

But what about the other guy? Remember that other fifth
grader that couldn’t even get through one page of a second grade chapter book?
What happened? How did he get to fifth grade as a “non reader”? Why can’t this
kid read? And, why does he just get lumped in with the other kids when we’re
talking about competition for his attention because I’m going to tell you—video
games are not his problem.

Most of the kids that I work with in the schools struggle
with some form of disability. It may be physical, genetic, behavioral,
emotional, cognitive or learning—but if they are seeing me, some aspect of
accessing the general education curriculum is difficult for them. There can be
many, many, many reasons why a child reaches the fifth grade and is essentially
three grade levels behind but one thing is for sure, Treasure Island is currently out of his or her reach—at least right
now.

If I could wish for publishers to produce a certain type of
book, I would ask they start working on a collection aimed at older, middle
grade readers whose ability is currently far below their peers. In school, kids
need to be encouraged to read the books written at their current ability level.
This allows them to build fluency with text without reaching what educators
call, “the frustration level.” This essentially means that the text isn’t so
difficult that the child basically gives up on it because they are not yet
capable of accessing the information there. The problem with older kids reading
at their ability but below their age group is that it can be pretty
stigmatizing for them to be reading Junie
B Jones while their peer is cruising through The Lightning Thief. Many kids are embarrassed by not being able to
read at the same level. Another problem is that the content and characters of a
second grade book are aimed at a second grade audience. Not many fifth grade
kids will, or will want to, identify with a second grade character.

Kids and teens should read more. They absolutely should. And
there is no doubt that there are more fun and excitingly new devices competing
for their attention coming into the market everyday. But as writers, agents,
publishers, parents and educators—as adults—before we start wagging out
collective tongues about the easy targets, lets not forget that there is a
whole population of kids out there who can’t even readily access the joy and
fun that can be found in a book—even when they want to.

Thanks for the insightful and educational look at reading ability in kids and teens, Becky!

3 comments:

My parents read to me and with me from a very young age, so I was already an avid reader early on. Parents are the primary educators and I think they play a huge role in fostering their kids reading abilities. I believe it starts at home.Interesting post, thanks!

Hi Laura. I am also a parent and completely agree. Kids who start school with a strong connection to books, print and literacy have a huge advantage over kids who have had minimal exposure. I think parents are a child's most important (and consistent over their entire life) educator.

I've encountered similar problems in my library. Some of my library kids are reading a few grades below, but they don't relate to the events in the books anymore. The flip side is I have some kids who are reading a few grades above, but the themes in those books are a little too old for them. It's hard finding books for both groups, but I try!

About Me

danya

I have a Bachelor's degree in psychology, an addiction to chocolate and a love of reading, particularly YA novels. I recently got my Master's degree in speech-language pathology. And I'm Canadian!
You can contact me at tapestrybookblog(at)gmail.com.

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"An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. -- Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do."— Jane Austen